even though sarah and i have seen each other multiple times in the last year [little rock, memphis, india, memphis again], we realized in early spring that it had been a year since she last came to new york and we both deemed it to be unacceptable. she was able to find cheap tickets to come in may, and we spent 10 days running around and creating havoc and generally living our best lives.

as with any of sarah’s visits, if i were to break down all the things we did i would likely bore you and exhaust myself, so instead i’ll share some of the top highlights here —

a trip to ikea and lots of furniture assembly. i had a list of things i wanted to pick up from ikea but needed a second set of hands, and because sarah is a great friend she was happy to arrive in new york, drop her stuff at my apartment, and immediately take off to the ikea in red hook. i was able to pick up three pieces of furniture i wanted along with some great new dishware, and over her visit we assembled all three pieces and got more of my apartment organized.

hosted a charcuterie night. one of the things i want to do more of this year is host friends at home. because my apartment is small i have to do it in small groups, and this was the perfect opportunity to have maggie and alexa over for a low-key charcuterie night. sarah and i are both quite good at assembling boards and plates, and we had a lovely evening chatting and laughing. i’m excited to host more soon!

seeing merrily we roll along on broadway. we love to see a show when sarah is in town, and on her first night we made the impulse decision to get tickets for merrily we roll along. we both love jonathan groff and were intrigued to see daniel radcliffe in a musical, and luckily for us we got to see both and were blown away. we sadly didn’t get to see lindsay mendez round out the trio, but the show was great and we had a blast. totally worth the splurge.

seeing babes followed by a q&a with ilana glazer. the morning sarah arrived i got an email from the angelika theater about a screening for babes that weekend followed by a q&a with ilana glazer and snapped up tickets for us both. we both loved the movie and lost our minds when ilana walked out for the q&a with ramy youssef. and lost our minds again when they walked past us both in the theater lobby and again on the street. we might never stop talking about it.

a stroll through the brooklyn botanic garden. the sunday that sarah was here i was signed up for a hand-lettering class at brooklyn brainery, so sarah accompanied me to brooklyn and then read in prospect park until i finished. we then met up with rochelle and spent a lovely few hours wandering through the brooklyn botanic garden, admiring the flowers and trees and doing a lot of really great people watching.

lots of outdoor reading time. for the most part the weather was perfect during sarah’s visit, so we spent as much time as possible reading outdoors. we spent one morning reading in astoria park, and we spent an afternoon reading [and taking turns napping] on the high line.

a lovely evening with the harlem run club. sarah’s friend [and now my friend, too] jordana lives in harlem and has found a lovely run club there, and we joined her for their monday night excursion. this club is very inclusive, with 5 different pace groups as well as a walk/run group and a walking group. we joined the walking group so sarah and jordana could have a chat while we walked, and we had a great time. i’m hoping to join them again soon.

an afternoon at the met. thanks to my met membership i get admission for myself and a guest, so we spent part of tuesday afternoon wandering through the museum. we both liked the costume institute exhibit but were very overwhelmed by how crowded it was. the harlem renaissance exhibit was also very cool, and we closed out our visit with some time in the temple of dendur, enjoying the views of people and central park.

so much delicious food. we had bagels. nachos. the aforementioned charcuterie. dumplings. an indian feast at kanyakumari. momos. tapas. we always eat well when sarah is in town, and this visit was no exception.

and of course, lots of chill time at home. we read, we watched shows and movies and cricket, we snacked and gossiped and rewatched the bridgerton carriage scene over and over.

there were also subway excursions and happy hours and other adventures that took us to many different neighborhoods around the city. and the best part? she’ll be back in just a few weeks! she’s going to stay in sunnyside while maggie is in italy visiting family, so there will be many more summer shenanigans to share after that.

xx